I've been asked by my roommate to put together a 1000$ rig. He is looking to get back into PC gaming and his 3yr old Toshiba Qosmio laptop died.

I have tried to keep some golden rules in mind when selecting these parts.
1. NEVER skimp on the PSU
2. Make sure it is upgradable
3. Stay within the budget as much as possible
4. Try to make sure the parts are good with a good warranty.
I am rather new to building Intel systems so I am ready to get reamed for screwing up like I am expecting. I usually put together AMD rigs but I know I'd get chewed out for that so I'm trying this instead.

If you go with a 7870 you can save about $60-80 and their performance is very close to a 7950 (5-10% @ stock and nearly zero difference if the 7870 has a mild overclock)

If you go with AMD then consider the 970 series boards (Gigabyte UD3, ASUS Evo models for example). They have nearly the same features (except SLI in most cases) and are much cheaper. Spend the savings on an FX-6300 and a Xigmatek Gaia cooler if you want some more oomph from the setup.

If you go with a 7870 you can save about $60-80 and their performance is very close to a 7950 (5-10% @ stock and nearly zero difference if the 7870 has a mild overclock)

If you go with AMD then consider the 970 series boards (Gigabyte UD3, ASUS Evo models for example). They have nearly the same features (except SLI in most cases) and are much cheaper. Spend the savings on an FX-6300 and a Xigmatek Gaia cooler if you want some more oomph from the setup.